The scourge of summer, the gas of laughter, has become a headache. The well-known laughing gas, one of the "wounds" of Ayia Napa and is not free for sale, however, the Police, now citing a relevant article of the penal code, make arrests that result in fines and imprisonment.
At noon and something, both the Mayor of Ayia Napa and the Police Spokesman were hosted, who together repeated the problems of the area.
Giannis Karousos even mentioned that the sale of the laughter gas does not only concern his city, but also other coastal cities of the island where in fact "it becomes a delivery" as he characteristically said. For its part, the Police noted that there is perfect cooperation with the Mayor Giannis Karousos, however it does what is humanly possible to limit and suppress the dangerous phenomenon of the gas of laughter.
The phenomenon of using laughter gas for entertainment has its roots in Britain, according to reports. The same reports even state that the madness started from London about 5 years ago while it spread rapidly to all areas visited by tourists.
A reference to the British example on this issue was made in his speech to SIGMA by the Mayor of the city, who stated that the British legislated for the gas of laughter and allows its use only for catering purposes and not for entertainment.
An example is neighboring Crete where 2 years ago a young British woman who was transferred in an extremely critical condition to the Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital of Heraklion after inhaling laughter gas. They even describe it as a "crack of the hippies" while in an earlier article in 2015, the Sun had described Cape as the "capital of the laughing gas of Europe" with the article mentioning what the author noticed. "It is so common that it is sold everywhere, in bars, clubs, restaurants, supermarkets and even kiosks," commented journalist Antonella Latseri in surprise.
The possible effects
Inhalation of nitrous oxide carries the risk of suffocation, which can lead to brain damage or death by suffocation. Medically known as "hypoxia", it occurs when a person stops breathing or breathes too dimly to meet their body's oxygen requirements.
This is because the gas dissolves in the bloodstream, reducing the amount of oxygen flowing to the brain and other vital organs. Consequences include strokes, eclipses, seizures and heart attacks.
However, doctors are particularly concerned that they have not yet identified the amount of nitric oxide that a person must consume in order to be considered critical to their health.
Having acquired the reputation of "hippie crack", the gas of laughter, according to its regular users, causes the same feeling as a line of cocaine, with the difference that it is not illegal. But is it just as dangerous?
It is generally believed that, unlike hard drugs, it has no harmful side effects, as it is non-smoking and non-injectable, while more than 460.000 people aged 16 to 24 used it regularly in 2013, a number that represents 7,6 percent of this age group.
However, behind these numbers lies an even more shocking statistic that has gone almost unnoticed: Nitric oxide is responsible for 17 deaths between 2006 and 2012, according to a research team at King George University Hospital in London.
Source: SigmaLive, with information from newsbeast.gr / iefimerida.gr
